Barrett keeps his place as All Blacks look to bounce back in Argentina

Beauden Barrett has retained his place at stand-off in a reshaped All Blacks team to play Argentina in tomorrow’s Rugby Championship Test in Buenos Aires.

Barrett carried a heavy share of the blame for New Zealand’s 36-34 loss to South Africa in Wellington in the last round of Championship after failing both with his goal kicking and match management.

His place in the starting lineup may have been saved when his potential replacement, full-back-turned-flyhalf Damian Mckenzie, was forced to return to New Zealand from Argentina because of a family bereavement. In Mckenzie’s place, the inexperienced Richie Mo’unga comes onto the bench. Sonny Bill Williams will play only his second Test 0 Beauden Barrett: Share of blame for Springboks defeat. of the season and his first since June after recovering from a shoulder injury.

Head coach Steve Hansen has shaken up his side but it’s likely many of the changes were pre-planned and are not a direct response to the All Blacks sub-par performance against the Springboks.

In the backline, Waisake Naholo returns on the right wing, allowing Ben Smith to revert to his specialist role at full-back. Williams will play at inside centre, forcing Ryan Crotty to outside centre as Hansen continues to shun Jack Goodhue, the All Blacks’ best player against the Boks.

Scrum-half TJ Perenara, who was guilty of poor decision-making in Wellington, has been handed a rare start in place of Aaron Smith, likely as a challenge to show he is better than his last performance.